The use of pacifiers and dummies has increased very much during the last years at the expense of finger sucking. Approximately 90% of small children develop a sucking habit and, of these, about 60% use a pacifier/dummy. Research shows that the pacifier/dummy habit rests longer than previously, and the pacifier/dummies are used more intensely than before.
A serious effect of dummy use associated with well known and conventional pacifiers of the dummy type is socalled posterior crossbites with a forced bite. This is due to the fact that the dummy's teat-like bubble body presses the tongue down in the floor of the oral cavity. Thus, the tooth bow of the upper jaw looses support and is pressed inwardly of the cheek pressure. Simultaneously, the tongue presses the tooth bow of the lower jaw outwards. Recent studies show that 26% of Swedish girls using pacifiers had developed posterior crossbites with a forced bite (Confer .o slashed.gaard B, Larsson E, Lindsten R. "The effect of sucking habits, cohort, sex, intercanine arch widths and breast and bottle feeding on posterior crossbite in 3-year-olds in Norway and Sweden. Am J Orthod Dentofac Orthoped 1994; 106: 161-6).
Crossbite having force-guidance is a serious bite error which may result in large deviations in the growth and development of the jaws. Therefore, National Health offers maximum repayment for the treatment, but tooth adjustment for small children is often complex and subjects the child to an unnecessary strain.
Another serious result of the use of pacifiers is the socalled "open bite" which is a consequence of the thick and straight passage required by known pacifiers between the teeth.
In a pacifier of the dummy type, the teat-like bubble body's free bubble on which the child sucks, assigned a disc-like stop body forming an outer counter member adapted to rest against the lips of the child, preventing the entire pacifier from landing within the mouth from where the child may try to swallow it. The outer stop disc usually carries a handle or the like.
DE 38 40 178 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,740 disclose pacifiers of the dummy type exhibiting common features and modes of operation. The pacifier means proper--the teat-imitating bubble body--is, in connection with each of these pacifiers, designed and shaped as two partially coalesced bubbles which, in the non-coalesced area, exhibit a U-/V-shaped cavity tapering from two freely projecting bubble portions in a direction towards the stop disc. The tongue tip will seek into said cavity. The double-arched bubble body passes into a rectilinear pipe portion or massive portion extending right-angled to the outer stop disc.
The design and shape of these known pacifiers will force the naturally curved tongue away from its natural motion paths/areas. Both these known solutions require large space within the oral cavity where the tongue ideally should be capable of staying in the upper part along the entire tooth bow. Both these known pacifiers involve a thick and straight passage between the teeth, and this is also unfortunate, as one rather should aim at achieving a broad, thin and slopingly extending passage between the teeth. Also, both these pacifiers will result in that the tongue is pressed down towards the lower jaw tooth bow, and "open bite" can develop therefrom.
The pacifiers according to DE 38 40 178 distinguishes itself specifically in that the bubble body of the pacifier will force the tongue down and away from the natural position at the inside of the upper jaw tooth bow. This may result in the development of crossbite force-guiding the lower jaw as described introductorily.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,740 discloses a dummy having many features common with conventional dummies. If the tongue becomes situated within said cavity, it will get an unnatural shape and can not maintain its place in the roof of the mouth. After a long time, this may result in an unfortunate bite development.